Tag: San Jose Stage Company

“Pop, six, squish, uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz.” Snap your fingers to the syncopated beat of “Cell Block Tango,” the opening number in Kander and Ebb’s now-immortal musical. The choreography was Bob Fosse’s. But after watching the FX TV series Fosse/Verdon last year, we’ve learned that dancer Gwen Verdon was at his side developing…

First released in 1981 as an obscenely gory, hilariously bad, ultra low-budget horror flick, The Evil Dead has become a cult classic franchise—clawing its way across multiple films, comics, video games, a television series and several stage adaptations. This campy, comedic musical draws elements from the core movie trilogy: The Evil Dead,…

When it comes to tradition, perhaps the only true constant is resistance to change. Told in real time over the course of a single 90-minute act, The Humans centers around the Blakes—a family spending an uncomfortable Thanksgiving in a Manhattan basement apartment, far from their suburban home in Scranton. In this innovative…

The San Jose Stage Company kicks off its 37th season by doing the Time Warp again—live! Most local Rocky Horror productions involve a screening of the 1975 cult hit starring Tim Curry, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, accompanied by live actors and calls for audience participation. But this production is a live,…

Luis Valdez, the iconic Chicano playwright and director behind Zoot Suit, La Bamba and El Teatro Campesino, stages the world premiere of his latest work, Adios Mama Carlota, The Empress of Mexico. Empress Carlota—daughter of King Leopold I, King of the Belgians—inherited her title after marrying Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (later…

Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic drama Between Riverside & Crazy is first and foremost a story about social injustice. It follows ex-cop and widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his recently paroled son, Junior, as he pursues a discrimination suit against the NYPD. All the while, the landlord of his rent-controlled apartment…

The Postman Always Rings Twice comes to life on stage as never seen before. James M. Cain’s 1934 novel has been given a film treatment multiple times: including in Tay Garnett’s 1946 box office success, and in the Jack Nicholson-starring 1981 movie. The Stage presents a brand new adaptation of this sadistic…

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is setting up shop in San Jose in this contemporary envisioning of Stephen Sondheim’s Gothic musical thriller. Witness the legend of a man banished for a crime he did not commit as he returns to London bloodthirsty for revenge against the judge who took everything from…

Let’s do the Time Warp again—live! And that’s the key. Most local productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show involve a screening of the Tim Curry-starring 1975 cult hit accompanied by live actors and calls for audience participation. This rendition of Rocky Horror will be performed on stage, in real live meatspace.…